Steve Marriott
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Steve Marriott (30 January 1947 in Bow, London – 20 April 1991 in Essex) was an English rock and roll singer, songwriter and guitarist. He is best remembered for his musical work in the groups Small Faces (1965-1969) and Humble Pie (1969-1975).
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[edit] Biography
[edit] Child Actor
Steve Marriott (Born Stephen Peter Marriott) was born in London, England. Music was in his blood and the young Steve started to earn cash by busking around the bus queues of Stepney with his ukelele. He worked as a juvenile actor in his youth; he appeared in an early London stage production of Oliver! with Ian Carmichael and Tony Robinson, (who claims Steve took him to Itchycoo Park one day and got him 'high'), and featured in two British films in his early teens, including one starring Peter Sellers.
[edit] Small Faces
Despite his small stature and slight build, Marriott possessed a thrilling and powerful voice; he was (and remains) widely admired as one of the best British rock and soul singers of his generation. He was also an accomplished songwriter.
Small Faces, along with The Who, were the most respected mod band, highly regarded by the youth cult's followers. Marriott was one of many influences on the formation and musical style of premier British hard rock group Led Zeppelin. Marriott is also reputed to have been Jimmy Page's benchmark when selecting a lead singer for Led Zeppelin (the other being another rowdy-voiced Brit, Terry Reid), and there are unmistakeable stylistic and timbral similarities between the voices of Marriott and Led Zeppelin's lead singer Robert Plant. The legend goes that Marriott's manager Don Arden threatened Page with broken fingers if he tried to steal Marriott away[citation needed], leading to one of the great "what-ifs" of rock. Paul Weller, of The Jam and The Style Council, has also cited Steve Marriott and Small Faces as a strong influence.
Small Faces were one of Britain's most successful and popular groups of the late Sixties, and Marriott wrote or co-wrote (with bassist Ronnie Lane) almost all of the Small Faces' most successful songs including "All Or Nothing", "Itchycoo Park", "Lazy Sunday", and "Tin Soldier".
Marriott quit abruptly at the end of 1969, frustrated by the group's inability to break out of their teen-pop image and their failure to achieve major success in the lucrative American market. Their failure to "break" America in spite of "Itchycoo Park" being a massive hit during the Summer of Love was most likely due to their failure to tour there.
[edit] Humble Pie
Shortly after leaving The Small Faces he formed a new band, Humble Pie with guitarist Peter Frampton (ex-The Herd), drummer Jerry Shirley and bassist Greg Ridley (ex Spooky Tooth). After extensive rehearsals at Marriott's Essex home, they released their first album As Safe As Yesterday Is on Andrew Loog Oldham's Immediate label, and scored a UK Top 5 hit with "Natural Born Boogie". Humble Pie almost disbanded after their first American tour however —when they returned to England they discovered that Immediate had gone into liquidation.
It later transpired that much of the company's profits had been siphoned off by one of its senior executives and during their lifetimes neither Marriott nor Lane ever saw any of the royalty money owed to them by Immediate, despite the fact that their work was licensed extensively over the next thirty years, selling millions of units in total.
With the assistance of a lawyer who worked on a "no win, no fee" basis, Small Faces drummer Kenny Jones and keyboard player Ian McLagan were finally able to secure ongoing royalty payments from Decca, beginning in 1991, and from Charly, the current owners of the Immediate catalogue, beginning in 1997. However, neither Marriott nor Lane lived to benefit from this, and according to Jones there is still a substantial amount of money owing to the group from their music publishing rights.
[edit] Solo Career
Marriott also had a solo career after the breakup of Humble Pie, appeared on recordings by French pop singer Johnny Hallyday and New York Dolls guitarist Johnny Thunders and wrote and recorded with Australian drummer and songwriter John Lee (ex The Dingoes). Marriott was heavily influenced by American soul music as well as The Beatles. He wore his influences on his sleeve, adding covers of many of his favorite songs to live sets throughout the years. Ray Charles was a particular favorite, with Humble Pie rendering "I Don't Need No Doctor" and "I Believe" to great success.
Marriott's dog Seamus made a notable appearance in the song "Seamus" on Pink Floyd's album Meddle. He can also be heard on the Small Faces song "The Universal", which Marriott recorded on a cassette player in his backyard. The former track appears on the video Pink Floyd: Live at Pompeii, however, the dog featured in the live recording is not the original Seamus. His vocal styling was reprised by a female Afghan Hound named Nobs with similar musical talents, and in the film the title was altered accordingly to read "Mademoiselle Nobs".
In the 1970s Marriott bought a large country house in Essex and in the 1980s it was used as the location for the home of the title character in the British television series Lovejoy starring Ian McShane.
[edit] Death
Marriott died in a house fire in his home on 20 April 1991. The accident was caused by his falling asleep while intoxicated and leaving a cigarette burning, after arriving home jet-lagged from an overseas trip. Just prior to his death, Marriott and Peter Frampton had begun writing songs together again, but the project was never completed.
[edit] Solo discography
See also Small Faces and Humble Pie for respective discographies
- Marriott
- 30 Seconds to Midnite
- Live at the Sir George Robey 23-1-85
- Dingwalls 6.7.84
- Packet of Three
- Steve Marriott's Scrubbers
- All Shapes & Sizes The Family Tree
- Clear Through the Night
- Steve Marriott & the Official Receivers
- The Legendary Majic Mijits
- Live in Germany
- Sing the Blues Live
- Afterglow
- Voice of Humble Pie
- Signed Sealed
- About Face
- Rainy Changes
